


Should Old Aquaintance be Forgot

by Mouse9



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Holidays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-25
Updated: 2013-12-25
Packaged: 2018-01-06 00:20:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1100258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mouse9/pseuds/Mouse9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After decades of only looking forward, Peggy Carter wants to take one look back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Should Old Aquaintance be Forgot

Peggy Carter had always been a formidable woman.  In her time, when women were usually regulated to desk jobs and secretarial positions, she had risen above her expected station, demanded respect from her peers and superiors and never looked back.  Her job, her career, her life belonged to SHIELD. She’d fought hard to get to where she was, taken a few punches along the way and delved out more than her share to the few unsuspecting or disbelieving men along the way who were either ignorant of who she was or just plan too stupid to believe that a woman could be their equal.

She never married, marriage would’ve been a death sentence for her career back then as women were expected to quit their jobs after marriage to focus on home and raising children.  She never looked back once she started on her path, never wanted to, her brother’s child was more than enough to keep her happy if the urge of child spoiling ever grew too large.  She thought she might regret it, one day, but she never did. 

She retired at sixty four, and focused on her little house and garden and stopping to enjoy all the things she never got to stop and enjoy while she’d been in SHIELD.  Her nephew, who had just had a baby girl, was worried she would regret things she didn’t do because of her career.  She didn’t.  Even retired, she refused to look back.  There was nothing to look back to.

 

 

She was standing in her kitchen making tea when she heard the news break into her afternoon show.  The news anchor was talking about the alien attack on New York City as she walked back into the living room with the steaming mug…that slipped from her fingers when she spotted the red white and blue dressed hero fighting alongside a man who looked like a Norse god.  Her boneless legs slid into the closest chair as her eyes remained on the television during the entire time they showed the carnage live.  She saw Iron man- Howard Stark’s only child- fly into the wormhole…then fall, lifeless back out plummeting to the Earth only to be caught at the last moment by a large green monster.  None of what she was seeing was odd or terrifying to her, she’d seen much scarier thing in her time at SHIELD. 

_It can’t be, it can’t be, it can’t be_  her mind chanted as she watched the heroes of New York gather where Iron Man and the monster had landed.  One brave camera man had dared to venture close enough to capture a brief close  shot of the group of heroes at the exact time that Captain America looked up and in that direction.  Her heart clenched as she recognized the determined blue eyes peering from behind the mask and the clenched jawline.  It was him.  There was no way in hell it could be, but it was him.  It wasn’t a man SHIELD had placed in a Captain America suit and sent out to fight along other heroes, this was Captain Steve Rogers, a man who supposedly died in 1943.

 

She waited to see if he would try to contact her.  She waited two years trying to move forward for the first time in her life, her mind remembering the past.  She tried to convince herself it was ridiculous to hope.  It was like he had been trapped in time or in stasis like those movies her niece Sharon loved to watch.  He hadn’t aged, a ninety year old man trapped in a young man’s body, given a second chance at life.  He’d probably forgotten about her and besides, she was ninety-two, there was nothing of the woman he would’ve remembered from that speeding car racing to catch up with a plane flown by a psychotic madman bent on destroying the world.

 

In the end the decision was made by her physician.  She was dying.  She might make it until the summer, but this was definitely her last Christmas season in the Earth.

It seemed- she was decided.  She contacted her niece Sharon and explained what she wanted; a trip to New York City during the week of Christmas.  After much convincing and several promises on Sharon’s behalf she told her why.  She was dying and her final wish was to go to New York and see him one last time.  She didn’t need to meet him, she just wanted to be able to see him- really see him, one final time.

Sharon agreed.

 

 

The day after Christmas was snowy and cold in New York as one SHIELD agent and one ex-SHIELD agent stepped into the warmth of Stark Towers.  Sharon felt her great Aunt’s hand tighten on her arm as they stepped into the great glass and metal building, feeling foolish and exposed without her uniform.  She nodded towards a guard who gave her a quizzical look.  The old woman let go of her arm and sat down on one of the overstuffed leather couches situated for visitors waiting to be allowed access into the inner part of the building.

“I still don’t agree with this idea, Aunt Peggy.”  Sharon said, sitting down beside her, her voice low.  “You should be at home with your family.”

“Your concerns are noted.”  The woman said.  “But this is what I want.  I have more than enough time to make my goodbyes to your parents and grandparents.  I have spent my life looking only forward.  I think it’s time I allow myself to take one small look back.”

“This would go quicker if you’d just let me talk to my supervisors.”  She insisted.  “I’m sure given who you are, they’d find a way to allow you at least five minutes with him.”

Peggy looked at her grandniece, the look both knowing and amused.  “Sharon, I hardly think that SHIELD has changed so much since I retired.  If anything I should think it has grown more paranoid.  An old woman asking to see Captain America?  Preposterous.”

“Peggy…”

“I am an old woman Sharon.  He is not.  My vanity alone keeps me from having him see me like this.” She looked around at the people busting in and out of the tower.  “No, I am quite content with this.”

 

It was five days before she finally got her wish.

 

Each day they returned to Stark Tower to sit quietly and people watch until it grew dark and they had to return to the hotel. On day two Sharon had to head off a guard by flashing her badge and quietly explaining the situation.  Day three got them coffee and a smile by a third guard.

Day four Sharon noticed the redhead that kept appearing in the lobby.  She was about to mention it when Peggy looked over at the woman and stared back, not blinking. The redhead blinked first, then smiled leaving the area not to be seen for the rest of that day.

Day five was New Year’s Eve and their final day in the city.  They were to take the flight back to London the next day.  As she had the last five days, Sharon opened the door for her great Aunt and allowed her to step into the warm building first, nodding hello at the guard at the desk. 

“Aunt Peggy, you’ve wasted a better part of a week, I do wish you would let me make a call.”

They crossed the lobby towards the couch they sat on for the last five days.  There were two cups of coffee waiting for them.

“I don’t consider it wasted, I’ve seen New York.”

“No, you’ve seen a block of New York and the inside lobby of Stark Towers.  As trips go, I’m calling this one…” her voice died and Peggy looked up at her from where she’d gotten comfortable on the couch. 

“Sharon?”  she queried, looking in the direction her young niece was staring.  She gasped. 

Standing next to the guard’s desk was a blond man in khakis and a brown leather jacket speaking to the guard.  Beside him was the redhead they’d seen the day before.  She touched the man on the shoulder and he turned around.

“That’s Captain America?”  Sharon asked in awe.  Peggy raised a shaking hand to her lips watching as he walked across the lobby tentatively at first, then recognizing her, quickening his stride.

He stopped in front of the rug the couch sat upon and stared at her. 

“You’re here.” He breathed, not able to take his eyes from her.  “I’m so sorry, I wanted to look for you but I was worried you wouldn’t…I mean…I’m not…”

Sharon fell onto the couch next to her great Aunt with a stifled giggle.  Captain America was actually apologizing to her Aunt for not being older.

“I…I…”  For the first time in Sharon’s life, her aunt was speechless.  Peggy swallowed hard and tried again.  “I wanted to see you, but I didn’t want you to see me like this.  An old woman.”

“You’re beautiful.”  He said, his words rushed.  She merely raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

“Steve.”  She chided.  He grinned, that grin lighting up his entire face and took the three steps it took to cross over to where she was sitting.  He sat on the table in front of her, not caring about the wood or how much it cost and took her hands in his.

“Peggy,” his voice was firm.  “You are beautiful, even now.”

She looked down at his hands engulfing her small wrinkled ones and then back at him, her eyes moist. 

“Steve, I never thought…I’m so sorry. We tried to look for you.”

He smiled at her and stood up, pulling her to her feet.  “If you’re not embarrassed to be seen with me, I think I still owe you a dance.  Fair warning, seventy years still hasn’t improved my skills.”

She gave a watery laugh, her hands squeezing his.  “I’ll teach you.”

Another blinding smile and he took her arm in his and walked her back towards the inside of the tower, the two talking softly. 

The redhead stepped towards Sharon who watched her Aunt and the hero walk away. 

“Agent Carter?”

Sharon looked at the redhead. 

“We would’ve been down yesterday but it took that long to convince him she wouldn’t be upset by seeing him as he is.”

“She’s dying.”  Sharon told the woman, not sure why but feeling to was important she knew why her great Aunt had done this.   The woman smiled gently. 

“He knows.  He needed to get past his grief before he saw her.”  She stepped back.  “If you’ll follow me?”

Sharon walked in step with the woman.  “I’m sorry if this is awkward for him.  It was her last wish.”

“Had he not seen her before she died he never would’ve forgiven himself. So perhaps they can spend the last day of this year catching up on old times, if you don’t mind sitting around listening to two old timers talk.”

Sharon smiled, remembering the light she’d seen in her great Aunt’s eyes the moment she saw Captain America.  And how for a moment, she could see Peggy Carter as he remembered her; young, beautiful determined. 

She smiled at the woman. 

“I can’t think of a better way to spend New Year’s Eve.”

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was part of a song challenge I made for myself. The song was supposed to be "Mittens". The pairing was also supposed to be Bruce/Darcy but you can see where the bunnies decided to go.  
> Hope you like it and please don't hit me too hard if you don't.


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